This spring sports season is starting of rather well for the royals is a seemingly unexpected fashion. Baseball has jumped up to #8 in the state following an unranked preseason poll largely due to a massive two-game sweep over Zionsville. Softball is 9-2, Boys Golf is #2 in the state, and there are high hopes for both track and lacrosse teams as they reach important stretches in their respective seasons. All in all, this spring is just a cherry on top of a successful year of Hamilton Southeastern Athletics. Football made a historic run to semi-state following a conference championship and undefeated regular season. Volleyball took home a state title, and both Soccer teams made it as far as their extremely competitive sectional championships. In the Winter, Swimming found a high level of success with multiple athletes progressing to the state meet and Girls Basketball put together and impressive season before falling in, once again, the most competitive sectional in all of Indiana Basketball. This recently found level of tremendous success and dominance across the different sports seasons can be symbolized by one thing, bringing back the red.

In 2006, when Hamilton Southeastern Schools opened Fishers High School; condemning half the city to forever being little siblings to Hamilton Southeastern High School. The color red was primarily removed from HSE as Fishers would sport the red and gray, and HSE would wear blue and white. A split that would lead to quite the scenes in the various Mudsock games as half the stadium would be a solid red and the other blue with a stark, contrasting line down the middle demonstrating the competitive nature of the rivalry. However, there was an elephant in the room as the lyrics of HSE’s fight song read, “for the RED, white, and blue.” Enter, Coach Michael Kelly.

Now, the credit for bringing back the red cannot belong to entirely to Coach Kelly. Ken Seitz, described by Athletic Director James Self as, “the father of HSE Sports,” has been incorporating the color into baseball gear since the split. But according to Self, “Once we said yes to football everyone jumped in.” Incorporating the red accents into football uniforms and practice-pack gear began almost simultaneously with the level of success the Royals have seen in recent years. While not directly being the cause, the color red can be seen as a symbol of the change of attitude and approach HSE sports has made in order to pursue excellence.

By adopting a more callous and underdog mindset, the energy and effectiveness of not only the varsity sports teams, but also the developmental success of many JV squads setting the standard for future dominance has skyrocketed. If you spend a day amongst HSE athletes, you would see this mentality taking hold in the weight room and classroom in addition to whatever court or field they may compete on. This is what the color red represents. “it is in our school song,” Self said, “I like it as an accent and I want that to continue.” – Story by Alex Boothby